Steve Kolenberg: Why I’m running in 144th District

Published 12:00 am, Thursday, March 17, 2016

In life I’ve found some of the most interesting conversations I’ve had have been in the our local Grade A Supermarket. Often times I speak with familiar faces: the teacher who taught me how to read in kindergarten, the boss who handed me my first paycheck, the woman who’s been cutting my hair since I was six. It’s fulfilling to catch up and see how I can help them with municipal problems, from filling potholes to getting stray Christmas trees moved

However, in the last few months, a lot of these friends and constituents have approached me with larger issues, issues I can’t solve on a municipal level. Their child’s tuition at UConn has skyrocketed, or they can’t afford to retire here because Connecticut taxes Social Security, or maybe they can’t even register a car without waiting four hours in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles. It breaks my heart hearing these issues and not being able to do anything about them. I refuse to allow these setbacks and sufferings to be the accepted standard here in Connecticut. Our citizens deserve better. With these thoughts weighing heavy in my mind, I have decided we need new leadership in Hartford that will bring all people back together and break down the partisan divide that is crippling the state of Connecticut.

As your state representative in Hartford I will make it my No. 1 priority to get our fiscal house in order. Right now our state is facing a $230-million dollar shortfall this year and a combined projected deficit of 4.8 billion dollar in the out years. In addition, under the current administration spending has increased by 2.8 billion dollars. During my opponents first year in office state government spending increased by $680.6 million dollars. Our current representative in Hartford had countless opportunities to stand up and say enough is enough but instead she decided to vote for the second largest tax increase in state’s history. Her decision to once again put Connecticut’s out-of-control spending habits on the backs of the people of this great state and was the deciding factor for the departure of General Electric.

But one of the more startling aspects of living in Connecticut is our deficit of hope. I talk to my friends and neighbors and they genuinely believe things are not getting better here in the Constitution State. The very old and the very young are leaving in droves. In fact, my own little brother left Connecticut for Texas because “there’s no opportunity here.” We have become a state of net loss instead of net gain. And I find that completely unacceptable. Bad decisions in Hartford hurt more than our financial situation, and we need to turn that around.

The people of the 144th District need someone in Hartford that will put them first not their party. We no longer need more of the same from Hartford that tells us what to do, when to do it, and how to do it; we need a state government that empowers the individual and grows our economy from the bottom up not from the top down. Unlike my opponent, when my party is doing something wrong I will be the first to say so. Its time for someone to kick door the door in Hartford and bring hope and common sense back into the equation. And that’s why I’m running. We don’t need anymore professional politicians. We don’t need blind loyalty to the party line. We need to bring hope back to Connecticut. And if I’m elected, that’s exactly what I’ll set out to do.